Illegally downloaded video games "up by 20% in five years"

The number of illegally downloaded video games have increased by over 20 percent in the past five years, a research firm has suggested.

London, (ANI): The number of illegally downloaded video games have increased by over 20 percent in the past five years, a research firm has suggested.

Envisional also suggested that 2010’s top five games were pirated online almost a million times.

Industry executives are worried that these figures imply that people would increasinglyexpect to get games free of cost.

But some gamers refute the claims of the magnitude of online privacy problem.

"I buy games because I''ve pirated them, if I don''t get to try them I never would have bothered picking them up,” Sam, who illegally downloads about 100 games every year, said.

Sam, who didn''t want to give his surname, said he is not worried by the threat of being fined or being jailed.

"I''ve never been fined. I''ve been doing this since I was 14 and I''m now 23.Games that I enjoy I purchase, ones that I don''t enjoy I delete." Association for UK Interactive Entertainment Chairman Andy Payne said.

According to the video game industry, all piracy acts constitute theft and suggested that fair priced games can help in checking the problem.

But Payne believes that the industry has already taken that step, the BBC reports.

"You can be playing that game every single day for a year.Look at Fifa, Modern Warfare, Black Ops, those games people are playing all the time. That''s great value”, he said.